Abstract:
This study was conducted to identify the level of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) during the first 6 months after birth among mothers of babies aged 6-18 months in CHILILAB, Chi Linh town, Hai Duong province, Vietnam. There were 223 participants selected to join this study by simple random sampling from the CHILILAB office database. In this cross-sectional study, all participants were interviewed face to face, using a standardized questionnaire with 55 questions. 48% of participant reported that they breastfed exclusively during the first 6 months after birth, but only 29% did so under a strict definition of exclusive breastfeeding. Prevalence of high knowledge and positive attitude were 51.1% and 20.2% respectively. The high education participants intended to have more knowledge about EBF than the low education participants and the participants who work for government or services or trading also had more knowledge about EBF than others jobs (Chi – square test, p=0.002 and 0.038 respectively) while the 26 – 30 age group intended to be more positive attitude with EBF than others age groups (Chi – square test, p=0.012). The lower education participants and the famer both intended to self – reported EBF more than the higher education participants and others jobs (Chi – square test, p<0.05). Knowledge was not significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding. There was highly significant association between the participants who were not enough breast milk for the baby with both self-reported EBF and strict practice EBF (Chi – square test, p<0.001). Lastly, recommendations are given to help improve practice of exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months after birth in this study area.
